Personality, Draft Status, and Military Service

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The purpose of the present study was to determine whether attitudinal and personality variables discriminate between those subjects who entered the Navy with low draft lottery numbers (draft-motivated group) and those who entered with high draft lottery numbers (self-motivated group). There were 7936 sailors all of whom were given the Recruit Temperament Survey (RTS) during their first week of boot camp. The results indicated that the self-motivated enlistees had had more difficulty at home and in school, they were more optimistic about their stay in the Navy than the draft-motivated group. The draft-motivated group was more anxious and depressed than the self-motivated group. In terms of the psychiatric incidence of the two groups, the self-motivated group, when compared to the draft-motivated group, had twice the incidence rate for psychosis and neurosis and half the incidence rate for drug-related hospitalization. The results were discussed in terms of the effect that the all-volunteer force will have in psychiatric facilities in the U.S. Navy. (Author).The purpose of the present study was to determine whether attitudinal and personality variables discriminate between those subjects who entered the Navy with low draft lottery numbers (draft-motivated group) and those who entered with high ...